Bar Barossa

Want a slice of South Australia in Brisbane?  That's what we were up for as we headed to Bar Barossa, last Friday night.  The concept is a wine store (the Purple Palate), with a wine bar next door.  It's located in a bit of no-man's land, up the far end of Queen Street.  We were having a drink first at the Hotel Orient and this was a close option for dinner.  As a side note, I was impressed with the Orient - it had everything I look for these days in a pub (i.e. good beers on tap, roomy, not so loud that you have shout and music I actually knew).  It reminded me a bit of the Beresford in Sydney, so I was happy to discover it's joys.  Back to the wine bar.... 

The bar is nice and open, with lots of glass and a modern feel.  It was busy, but luckily Al had booked  us a table.  The wine choice was extensive (as to be expected) and it took us a while to leaf through all the wine menus to actually find some food hidden there.  The focus is obviously the wine, but the food was pretty good.  The highlight was the oysters we had as entree - one variety had crab meat on top (pictured above) and these were a real tasty treat.  The menu overall has a French influence - I had the pork belly with polenta and du puy lentils, which was nice, but the pork wasn't as flavoursome as I was hoping.  The boys had steak frites, which were cleaned up, but I didn't hear much raving.  Al went the vegetarian pasta option (despite nearly breaking the vego drought on the steak frites) and I think she made the right move to hold out for a more appropriate moment. 

And of course - the wine!  Al and I had the Daisy Hill Pinot Noir, which was very drinkable.  I can't recall what Kris ordered, but he had two glasses, so it must have been good.  We probably didn't do the wine that much justice to be honest, given that two of us were designated drivers.  We'll have to re-think that strategy if we decide to come back. 

Bar Barossa
545 Queen Street
Brisbane